Thought processes and conversations started under the tilted cap of Tropicana Field. Someday everyone will know the Rays play in St. Petersburg, Florida, not TAMPA, or the fictitious city of TAMPA BAY.

Results tagged ‘ Suspended Game ’

The Rays are staying at a posh, very romantic resort in Wilmington, Delaware right now, and it is the perfect place for them to relax and recharge before taking on the Philadelphia Phillies tonight and hopefully, extend this series to at least 1 more game……….or more.

The Rays have been in this situation before, and it is nothing usual to them. All year long they have been hearing the whispers and the chuckles from beyond their ears about their abilities and their chances.

It is time for them to …..as eloguently put in the movie, The Program: ” It is time to put the women and children to bed and go searching for dinner.” It is the bottom of the 6th, no out, and the world is waiting to see what they are made of tonight. to say it is “put up or shut up” time is an understatement. They came into the Wrold Series as a favorite for only the first time this postseason, and it isa a role they havew not had to play in 2008.

For the Rays to fulfill their 2008 destiny ,they must play error free for 2 1/2 more innings. Put some runs on the board and defend against giving up an inch of ground. And last but not least, keep the confidence level hiked up to 10 until it is all over. So it is time to relax, and let’s see what kind of place this Hotel du Pont is like in Wilmington:

I thought the Renaissance Vinoy was a beautiful hotel to stay in for baseball games, but the Hotel du Pont was the brainchild of millionaire mogul Pierre du Pont, and shows all his tastes for the finer htings in life, as well as the best that the European hotels had to offer in the early 1900’s.

The hotel opened on January 15, 1913 and has over 295 registered guest that day. During the opening week, over 25,00 people strolled the gardens and ballrooms of the 5-star hotel. No expense was spared by Du Pont is creating Wilmington’s crowned jewel. Throughout the years the hotel has evolved with the times. wooden inlaid floors became marble, mirrored walls replaced with traverstine stone, and the ceilings were carved with scrolls and rosettes. It is a hotel that money could not build today for less than a billion dollars. It is the lap of luxury in America’s first state.

But I have to say, no matter what the cost ( $ 299. / night ), it is not too much for our traveling Rays. I know when I travel to the other cities in the leagues for games I try and stay at a local landmark hotel or historical registry member that will boost my conversation when I am out and about in that town. This setting will be the talk of the clubhouse for a long, long time. It has to be one of the best finds by Jeff Ziegler in his career as the Rays Traveling Secretary, and it was by accident that he found this gem.

Because the team checked out of the Westin in Philly fully expecting on Monday night to be jetting back to the warmth of home, the team did not make emergency lodging preparations before the games suspension. Ziegler had to find 80 plus rooms on a moments notice and not only found them in accordance with the Players’ Union specs of a high end lodging, he found one in a romantic section southeast of Philadelphia.

If there was an award for on your feet, quick thinking under fire, Ziggy would get it hands down from the Rays for his hotel magic……….and to think 12 years ago he was a police officer with the St. Petersburg Police Department and we did not have the Rays.

Game 5 Tidbits

Scott Kazmir walked 6 batters in only 4 innings on Monday, making him only the 3rd pitcher to walk that many batters in that few innings in a World Series game. The Brooklyn Dodgers’ Rex Barney walked 6 Yankees batters in 2 2/3 innings in 1949 and the Tigers’ “Wild Bill” Donovan lived up to his moniker by walking 6 Pirates batters in 3 innings in 1909.

B.J. Upton stole his 4th base of the World Series in the top of the 6th, and it turned out to be a crucial move, as he scored the tying run on Carlos Pena’s RBI single. Upton’s 4 steals are the most by a player in one World Series since Omar Vizquel had 5 in 1997.

Umpires come clean on two key calls in the World Series.

The Philadelphia Phillies scored in the first inning of Game 4 on Sunday night after Jimmy Rollins scampered safely back to third during a rundown. But television replays showed he was tagged on the backside by Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria and should have been called out by 3rd base umpire Tim Welke.

Longoria swiped his arm in frustration after Rollins was called safe, and Rays manager Joe Maddon came out for a brief argument. “I just saw him swing and miss. I never saw a tag,” Welke explained after Sunday night’s game. “That’s a swipe tag. A lot of times on a swipe tag, the glove will pause. I saw him try to make a swipe tag but I never saw the glove pause.”

Rollins wound up scoring when Pat Burrell drew a bases-loaded walk from Andy Sonnanstine, and the Phillies went on to a 10-2 victory that gave them a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Series.

It was the Rays who got a break in Game 3, when speedy Carl Crawford was called safe by 1st base umpire Tom Hallion on a 7th-inning bunt single. Replays showed Jamie Moyer’s glove flip to first baseman Ryan Howard beat Crawford on a close play.

“Bang-bang play, and I tried to get the best angle on it,” Hallion told a pool reporter. “I really didn’t get a sound to be able to judge. It winds up being a great play. And looking at a replay here, they just got him.” Crawford scored as part of a 2-run rally and Tampa Bay tied it later, but Philadelphia won, 5-4.

There were a couple of disputed calls during the first 3 games at Tampa Bay, too. Maddon screamed for a balk on Cole Hamels when he picked off a Carlos Pena in the opener, and Rocco Baldelli drew a key walk on a checked swing in Game 2 that the Phillies thought had been called strike three.

And then there is the strike zone. Fox and its announcing team of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver have also pointed out several inconsistencies throughout the series.

Moyer seemed to benefit from Fieldin Culbreth’s calls behind the plate in Game 3, when Fox’s tracking system registered several pitches out of the strike zone that went in the Phillies’ favor.

In Game 5, the tracking system showed that Rays starter Scott Kazmir received at least three ball calls from Jeff Kellogg that looked to be strikes. Two to Pat Burrell, with 2 strikes, in the fifth inning led to Kazmir’s 6th walk, and he was pulled thereafter. In the previous inning, the Rays’ Akinori Iwamura struck out on a pitch that appeared several inches out of the strike zone.

This is the first postseason in which baseball is using replay–though only to review home run calls.

The following passages are taken directly from the Major League Baseball Handbook distributed to all members of the MLB and it’s clubs. I got a copy of this manaul this year from someone within the Rays organization, and it is pretty informative if you ever get a chance to read it. It might not great bedtime reading, but if you have a lazy day and just want to learn something trivial and might be useful one other time in your life…………this is the book.

4.12SUSPENDED GAMES.

(a) A game shall become a suspended game that must be completed at a future date if the game is terminated for any of the following reasons:

(1) A curfew imposed by law;

(2) A time limit permissible under league rules;

(3) Light failure or malfunction of a mechanical field device under control of the home club. (Mechanical field device shall include automatic tarpaulin or water removal equipment);

(4) Darkness, when a law prevents the lights from being turned on;

(5) Weather, if a regulation game is called while an inning is in progress and before the inning is completed, and the visiting team has scored one or more runs to take the lead, and the home team has not retaken the lead; or

(6) It is a regulation game that is called with the score tied.

National Association Leagues may also adopt the following rules for suspended games. (If adopted by a National Association League, Rule 4.10(e) would not apply to their games.):

(7) The game has not become a regulation game (4½ innings with the home team ahead, or 5 innings with the visiting club ahead or tied).

(8) If a game is suspended before it becomes a regulation game, and is continued prior to another regularly scheduled game, the regularly scheduled game will be limited to seven innings.

(9) If a game is suspended after it is a regulation game, and is continued prior to another regularly scheduled game, the regularly scheduled game will be a nine inning game.

EXCEPTION: Optional Rules 4.12(a)(7), 4.12(a)(8) and 4.12(a)(9) for National Association Leagues will not apply to the last scheduled game between the two teams during the championship season or league playoffs.

No game called because of a curfew (Rule 4.12(a)(1)), weather (Rule 4.12(a)(5)), a time limit (Rule 4.12(a)(2)) or with a tied score (Rule 4.12(a)(6)) shall be a suspended game unless it has progressed far enough to have been a regulation game pursuant to Rule 4.10(c). A game called pursuant to Rules 4.12(a)(3) or 4.12(a)(4) shall be a suspended game at any time after it starts.

NOTE: Weather and similar conditions–Rules 4.12(a)(1) through 4.12(a)(5)–shall take precedence in determining whether a called game shall be a suspended game. If a game is halted by weather, and subsequent light failure or an intervening curfew or time limit prevents its resumption, the game shall not be a suspended game.

If a game is halted by light failure, and weather or field conditions prevent its resumption, the game shall not be a suspended game. A game can only be considered a suspended game if stopped for any of the six reasons specified in Rule 4.12(a).

(b) A suspended game shall be resumed and completed as follows:

(1) Immediately preceding the next scheduled single game between the two clubs on the same grounds; or

(2) Immediately preceding the next scheduled doubleheader between the two clubs on the same grounds, if no single game remains on the schedule; or

(3) If suspended on the last scheduled date between the two clubs in that city, transferred and played on the grounds of the opposing club, if possible;

(i) Immediately preceding the next scheduled single game, or

(ii) Immediately preceding the next scheduled doubleheader, if no single game remains on the schedule.

(4) Any suspended game not completed prior to the last scheduled game between the two teams during the championship season shall become a called game. If such game becomes a called game and

(i) has progressed far enough to become a regulation game, and one team is ahead, the team that is ahead shall be declared the winner;

(ii) has progressed far enough to become a regulation game, and the score is tied, the game shall be declared a “tie game.” A tie game is to be replayed in its entirety, unless the league president determines that playing the rescheduled game is not necessary to affect the league championship; or

(iii) has not progressed far enough to become a regulation game, the game shall be declared “No Game.” In such case, the game is to be replayed in its entirety, unless the league president determines that playing the rescheduled game is not necessary to affect the league championship.

A suspended game shall be resumed at the exact point of suspension of the original game. The completion of a suspended game is a continuation of the original game. The lineup and batting order of both teams shall be exactly the same as the lineup and batting order at the moment of suspension, subject to the rules governing substitution.

Any player may be replaced by a player who had not been in the game prior to the suspension. No player removed before the suspension may be returned to the lineup.

A player who was not with the club when the game was suspended may be used as a substitute, even if he has taken the place of a player no longer with the club who would not have been eligible because he had been removed from the lineup before the game was suspended.

Rule 4.12(c) Comment: If immediately prior to the call of a suspended game, a substitute pitcher has been announced but has not retired the side or pitched until the batter becomes a base runner, such pitcher, when the suspended game is later resumed may, but is not required to start the resumed portion of the game.

However, if he does not start he will be considered as having been substituted for and may not be used in that game.

(d) Rain checks will not be honored for any regulation or suspended game that has progressed to or beyond a point of play described in Rule 4.10(c).

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